By JJB

April Sound’s Marian Landry loves to read and enjoys a good story. For years friend told her she should write a book. She immediately thought of her mother’s life, which was filled with obstacles, love and success, all good ingredients for a book, and her resulting novel, "Distant Moments-Angela’s Story" is hot off the press.

Before she sat down at the computer to put words to paper, Marian did a great deal of research. She went to Austria twice to visit the village of Groissenbrunn, a farming community nestled beneath the Carpathian Mountains, where her mother lived as a child. Her research also took her to Bayonne, New Jersey, where records of naturalization papers were kept. She interviewed a number of people who knew Angela’s family. "I wanted all the details in the book to be accurate," Marian explained.

"My mother is one of the most remarkable women I have ever known, and this novel tells of her heartbreaks, but also of her successes at a time when women were seldom in business," Marian said.

The story starts in Groissenbrunn in 1886 when Angela was born. We view through Angela’s eyes the customs and traditions of Austria. She was a business women even as a teenager, opening and egg booth in a nearby farmer’s market.

As the story continues Angela is betrothed at 16 to a cousin in an arranged marriage which was very unhappy. Soon after the wedding her husband immigrated to America and sent for Angela. The story of her sea voyage in steerage class echoes experiences by many immigrants coming to a new world. Teeming New York City became her home.

When Angela is left as a single parent in an era it was unheard of, she found employment as an assistant cook in a company lunchroom, and through hard work becomes the owner. She finds a new love and opens new businesses, which provided opportunities for her family.

"My book is written as a novel, and some of the details and conversations were as I pictured them," Marian said, "but everything about Angela is 100% true, and that of her lifelong love Rudy, who was my father. I added a few characters to the story as I imagined it happened."

Now that the book is published, Marian is doing what all writers have to do. She is making appearances to promote her book, and will be appearing at signing parties.